Death From the Sidelines
by shallowcrescent18
Summary: When a district six mother's daughter is reaped for The Hunger Games, she is sure this will be the worst games ever, but is she prepared for what she will see? This is my first FanFiction story so please do not be too harsh. Disclaimer-I do not own the Hunger Games
1. The Reaping

**Chapter 1**

I wake up early, today is the reaping day. I go outdoors, judging by the light it is about three in the morning. "At least there is no work today," I think. No work, the only upside. Like it isn't terrible enough to know you might never see your children ever again after today at least they give us the day off, although that does not make it a fun day. Once I have washed all the clothes, I go inside. Keniah is awake. I was hoping she would sleep in. I start making breakfast. We live in district six which isn't as badly off as some districts, but we don't have that much. Keniah is 14; this means her name will be entered three times. I never let her take tesserae; she is all I have left. Keniah joins me making breakfast, and then we sit down and eat. Neither of us speaks for a long time, and then Keniah says she is taking a walk around the district. Reaping days always feel empty, you don't have work and you don't want to think about what might happen.

Now that Keniah is home from her walk, we change into our reaping clothes. Keniah has a lilac dress that she has also worn for the past two years. I have a pale blue dress.

The walk to the town square is uneventful. When we get there Keniah is sent with the other 14 year olds, I stand on the sidelines to watch. Quickly the reaping begins. The capital escort Gaudia appears. Our mayor reads the history of Panem and the list of our victors. Gaudia goes up and wishes us a happy hunger games, then she says "Ladies first," draws a slip of paper and reads loudly and strongly, "Keniah Jaeison." "No," I think desperately, "Not my daughter anyone but her." Keniah is already walking up to the stage. I only know one thing; these will be the worst games of my life.

I walk into the fancy room, the rest of the reaping went by quickly, the boy was called and he went forward to the stage. He shook hands with Keniah and they were taken away. Now, in a room of the justice building, I get to say goodbye to Keniah. She is sitting calmly, but you can tell she is terrified, she doesn't think she will win. "Keniah," I say, "You can win, and you will win." She doesn't answer. "You are going to come home," I tell her. She still looks doubting. I take her hand, "I will be helping you the whole time," I say. A peacekeeper enters, "Goodbye," I say, "I will see you soon." Then the door closes and I begin crying.

At home I do nothing, by now Keniah will be on the train. It won't be a long ride for her, district six is near the capital. I go to bed without eating and dream a night full of nightmares about Keniah dying.


	2. Chariots and Scores

**Thank you to those of you who have reviewed. It is very helpful. If you read this PLEASE review. Sorry about short chapters, short chapters generally mean I will update more often though.**

**Chapter 2**

I spend the next day doing nothing, or if I do something, I blame myself for what is happening to Keniah. I don't know how I would survive without her forever. I won't watch the games in the square; I will stay here in the house alone until she comes back. The town square is too busy and I want to be alone.

Tonight the tributes will ride out in chariots and I will have to watch, from now on I will have to watch her, so far away and I will be unable to do anything to help her. I don't know how I will manage, it is always hard to watch children kill each other, but watching her be killed would be unbearable. I want to believe that she will come home, but I know that she has a 1 in 24 chance of surviving. I don't want to think about her dying, it is too painful. I will cling to the desperate hope that she will survive because it is the only thing that will keep me going on with life. I am not doing much of anything now though. How can she be feeling knowing that she will probably die? I have always felt lucky not to have been in the games myself, but now I realize that watching your child die is worse than dying yourself; death in the games is better than death from the sidelines, because in the games at least you know that it is the Capital's fault, not yours**. **If she dies there is no one to blame but myself.

The TV automatically turns on; I walk over and watch the chariots begin to appear. None of the tributes seem to stick in my mind, until she appears. She is wearing a short black dress, it goes down to a little above her knees, on her back is a pair of white wings. I guess it does a good job of showing our district; wings are a form of transportation. The chariots pull around to President Snow's mansion; he stands up and gives a speech that is the same every year. After that the chariots pull away, my eyes stare at the spot she last was, then the TV goes dark.

I can't believe that I slept at all last night, apparently seeing her, even on a screen helped me. It is now midmorning. I realize that I barely ate anything yesterday. I walk over to the table and eat a large breakfast/lunch. The tributes will be training now and for the next few days. This is good because Keniah has never been the strongest type. I hope she takes advantage of the time to catch up with the others. I will hope for her to get a high training score, she will need sponsors to survive.

The TV automatically turns on. A picture of a girl appears on the screen. The picture has the words Miriad, District 1 Male written on it. I barely have time to notice this before his training score is showed. It is an 11. The next picture is labeled Dilectia, District 1 Female. She gets an 11 also. Then next pictures go by and I don't really pay attention to them. When Keniah's picture comes up; I am happy to find that she has gotten an 8. At least that is one less thing for me to worry about. Tonight I will sleep well since she has accomplished a satisfactory training score. In two days the interviews will come and I hope she will be prepared.

**I hope you liked it; the next chapter will be the interviews. Again, please review and sorry for the short chapters. **


	3. Tribute Interviews

**Thank you to those of you who reviewed my story. This chapter is shorter than the others, but I will probably have longer chapters from now on. I am also writing another story, so I will have to update that too. I hope you like it. **

**Chapter 3**

The TV turns on automatically again. This time I see the tributes walk onto the stage in a line. Tonight will be very important in terms of sponsors. The interviews begin with the girl from district one, Dilectia. I don't pay much attention to what they are saying until it get to her. Caesar Fickerman calls her name and she walks up to sit by him. They shake hands, then the interview begins. He jumps right in and asks what her life at home is like. "I live with my mom," she replies. "So what happened to your dad then?" he asks her. "No, not this topic," I think. This is too painful to think about. Suddenly I can't help it, I remember the day.

It was early in the morning and he was leaving for work. Keniah stopped him aa he was heading out the door. He was almost late. "Keniah, I have to go," he said. "Wait, I have to show you something," she said. "You can show me tonight," he said, "I can't be late." "What if you can't see it tonight?" she asked. "I promise, I will see it tonight and I will never break a promise," he told her. That day he died and Keniah never got to show him what she wanted to.

I missed what she said to that, but the question clearly upset her. He asks her a bunch of other questions about the capital, but does not talk about her life at home any more. I am glad for this. After her interview is done, I fell somewhat okay. She was able to answer the questions and therefore she has a better chance of winning. Tomorrow the games will begin and I won't be able to sleep, I will be too worried. I need to rest tonight.

I am too worried for tomorrow, I cannot sleep even tonight. Whenever I do I have terrible nightmares of her dying, and when I don't I am thinking about it and worrying about her. A lot of the other tributes are older than her, but with sponsors she has a chance. She has to have a chance; otherwise nothing will keep me from going insane. The games are tomorrow and I will have to watch children I know die, but worse, I will have to watch my daughter die.

**I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be the start of the games. **


	4. The Arena

**Chapter 4**

**Sorry for taking so long to update, I have been really busy with everything for school and such. I know I said this chapter would be longer, but I am going to stick with short chapters, I will try to update more often though if I can. **

I sit up hearing a loud noise; I realize that it is morning. I have been half asleep, half awake all night. The sound of the TV turning on is what I had heard. The games are starting and I am still not prepared. I will never be prepared.

I watch the tributes rise into the arena. At first it looks like the arena is tiny, then I notice a hole in the center. That's where the rest of the arena is, underground and everyone will have to go there to survive.

The countdown begins. I sit here watching for a whole minute trying to see what she is doing. She is in the back circle of tributes, next to the boy from one and the girl from two. The gong sounds, she runs to the hole and runs straight into the district ten girl who was still standing in the same spot that she was to begin with. The girl looks a year or so younger than her. With no weapons yet, they are left with two choices, an alliance or to ignore each other. They say something to each other and then become allies. I think that's a good choice, they will be able to protect each other. Then they climb down the rocky wall of the hole. Already some tributes have reached the weapons at the bottom and are fighting. I see at least five tributes die right then. It could have been more though, I am focusing on her and not the others. By the time they have reached the bottom, many of the tributes have already run down the long passageways. The pile still has a few knives and they each take one. Then they choose a tunnel at random and head down it.

Food will be a problem for them of course, and water. I have already sent in what little money I can to sponsor her, but with that she won't get much, only a small amount of water and enough food for one small meal. As they walk they talk about how to survive. They have realized the walls of the tunnel have indents every so often. They stop in one of these many indents to rest. As they are sitting there a parachute come down to them, I think it's from the money I sent. It contains only two small bottles for water and two pieces of bread. They cannot even try to make a fire; there is no wood anywhere near them. They have decided that the girl from ten will have first watch and Keniah lies down to sleep.

The screen now shows the career pack running down tunnels searching for tributes to kill. They find a boy huddled in an indent of the tunnel, the boy from one takes out a knife and stabs him, then they continue on. Suddenly 13 cannon shots go off, everyone is far enough away from the bodies for them to be retrieved. The ceiling shows the dead tributes; the girl from three, the boy from four, the girl from five, the boy from six, the boy from seven, the boy from eight, both from nine, the boy from ten, both from eleven, and both from twelve. Thirteen dead! How could I have missed so many deaths? I begin to feel slightly more hopeful. Maybe she will win.

**I hope you liked it, please review. I am going to list which tributes are dead below. **

**District 3 girl**

**District 4 boy**

**District 5 girl**

**District 6 boy**

**District 7 boy**

**District 8 boy**

**District 9 boy**

**District 9 girl**

**District 10 boy**

**District 11 boy**

**District 11 girl**

**District 12 boy**

**District 12 girl**


	5. Dark Tunnels

**Chapter 5**

**Sorry for the long wait between updates, I was really busy again. I will try to be better, but I have a lot happening right now, sorry. **

Last night's hopefulness has vanished with the new day, leaving me more worried than before. I don't know what I can do to help her. I look at the TV and it does nothing to comfort me. She is huddled in the darkness of the tunnel looking quite scared, not that I can blame her for that of course. The girl from ten wakes up and they decide to explore the tunnels. They get up, each taking their knives, and walk down another tunnel at random. For a while, they see no one. Then, just as I think she may be getting lucky, a boy appears behind them.

I am terrified; she doesn't even seem to notice him. The girl from ten eventually does, she taps Keniah on the shoulder, and they whip around to face him. He doesn't look particularly strong and seems underfed, which is lucky for Keniah, she would most likely be unable to kill a career. She pulls out her knife along with her companion, and they walk towards him. In the distance a cannon sounds making the boy jump. She doesn't hesitate, together they stab him with their knives and run as fast as they can far away and don't look back. They have already left the tunnel when his cannon sounds. They look at each other, and I can tell that they are both terrified of what they have just done, and rightly so, no one, especially their age, should have to kill a person, but we have to, and people have always done what it takes to survive.

There is one more death today, I'm not sure who, the careers are the killers, and the victim is a random girl. In the sky tonight there are three faces, the girl from eight, the boy from five, and the girl from ten. I think about the day, and then realize, they are down to the final eight, someone will be coming to interview me soon and the hopeful feeling comes back, for a little while at least.

**Sorry it was so short, I don't have a lot of time right now but I'll probably update again this weekend. I hope you enjoyed it, please review. **

**Dead tributes:**

**District 3 girl**

**District 4 boy**

**District 5 boy**

**District 5 girl**

**District 6 boy**

**District 7 boy**

**District 7 girl**

**District 8 boy**

**District 8 girl**

**District 9 boy**

**District 9 girl**

**District 10 boy**

**District 11 boy**

**District 11 girl**

**District 12 boy**

**District 12 girl**


	6. Final Eight

**Sorry for the really long wait. I haven't had much time to write, but now it is summer so I'll be updating more often. **

**Chapter 6**

There is a knock on my door the next morning. I sit up and realize that I have fallen asleep in front of the TV. I go to the door and open it to find a capital reporter standing outside of it. He asks me if I am the mother of Keniah and I say, "Yes." He tells me to come with him and I follow him to the Justice building.

We walk into a room and he tells me to sit down and then sits across from me. The whole time I am worried about what could be happening to Keniah. Then he begins the interview.

"What do you think about how Keniah has done so far?" he asks me.

"She has done quite well so far," I reply.

"What do you think of her reaction to killing that boy?"

"I think she has every right to be surprised, she hadn't killed anyone before that."

"Well, she'll get over it. They all do." This upsets me. "So Keniah says that her father is dead, tell me more about him."

"I'd rather not," I say worriedly, luckily he doesn't make me.

"What do you think of Keniah's chances of winning?"

"I think she has as much of a chance as anyone," I say, knowing that this is an important question; "she has proven herself able to kill and is doing quite well. I think that she has a good chance of winning."

The man asks me a few more questions about her, but I'm not very focused. I have to know what is happening to her.

Finally, he lets me leave. I hurry home to see another tribute dying, luckily it's not Keniah. A cannon goes off. I'm still worried about what could have happened to her while I was at the interview.

I sit nervously in front of the TV until nightfall. There were two deaths today, the girl from four and the boy from three. A dead career surprises me, it must have been the death that I missed. I wonder if the careers turned on her or if she was killed by someone else. The games are going quickly so far, but will Keniah be able to hold out?

It takes until the middle of the night for Keniah to be shown. She and the girl from ten look hungry and thirsty, but seem to be ok. I'm glad for this. So far she has gotten lucky, but I am terrified that her luck won't hold out and she will die. This cannot happen, I don't know how I will stand things without her.

Dead tributes:

District 3 boy

District 3 girl

District 4 boy

District 4 girl

District 5 boy

District 5 girl

District 6 boy

District 7 boy

District 7 girl

District 8 boy

District 8 girl

District 9 boy

District 9 girl

District 10 boy

District 11 boy

District 11 girl

District 12 boy

District 12 girl


	7. Death From the Sidelines

**THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! THERE IS STILL ONE MORE!**

**Chapter 7**

Two boys and two girls are running down a passageway. The careers, I realize. They're the only ones left in the arena other than Keniah and the girl from ten. They're looking for them! I sit up straighter and become much more alert.

They run down many different passageways. After quite a long time, I notice two silhouettes further along the passage. Keniah has no idea that they are coming for her, I want to yell at her to run, to get away, but I can't. Even if I did it would be no use. The careers creep up behind them. A girl stabs the girl from ten through with a sword. Keniah, hearing her friends scream, whips around to face the threat. The cannon goes off and shock registers on her face immediately. Her friend is dead. She is outnumbered and out trained.

Keniah draws her knife and they all draw their weapons. She throws her knife and grabs her friend's knife. The first knife has done nothing and now lies on the ground. Keniah has no choice but to throw the second knife. It hits the girl who killed her friend, but I know that it's not enough, she's still outnumbered. A boy takes his knife and tries to stab her, but she ducks. He tries again and this time succeeds in stabbing her arm. She cries out in pain and I start to cry.

He draws another knife and using them both, stabs her through the heart. She screams. I begin to sob even harder. She falls to the ground next to her friend and screams one more time. Then the cannon goes off. I can feel my heart being ripped apart. My only child is gone. I am alone here forever. I scream as loud as I can, I don't care what anyone thinks, just that she is dead. She can't be dead! She had to live, without her I can't go on.

When I look up again, her body is gone. It's on its way home, but not the way I wanted. I wanted her to live. I wanted her to win. The boy who killed her has won. Her murderer has won, that can't be right! I can't stand it. Death from the sidelines is the worst thing, a mother's worst fear. Even though we survived the games the capitol still took our children and killed us while we watched.

**Dead Tributes:**

**District 1 girl**

**District 2 boy**

**District 2 girl**

**District 3 boy**

**District 3 girl**

**District 4 boy**

**District 4 girl**

**District 5 boy**

**District 5 girl**

**District 6 boy**

**District 6 girl**

**District 7 boy**

**District 7 girl**

**District 8 boy**

**District 8 girl**

**District 9 boy**

**District 9 girl**

**District 10 boy**

**District 10 girl**

**District 11 boy**

**District 11 girl**

**District 12 boy**

**District 12 girl**

**I'm going on a trip for three weeks and probably won't be able to use the computer. During that time I will finish this story and write more on the others in a notebook. When I get back I will be able to post a bunch of chapters. Please review, the next chapter will skip to the victory tour. **


	8. The Vistory Tour

**Sorry for the long wait, as I said before I was traveling. This is the last chapter. **

**Chapter 8**

Six months have passed since Keniah's death and it is still fresh in my mind. Tonight is the victory tour. Tonight her murderer comes to our district.

I dress quickly and join the flow of people heading to The Justice Building. I am not over her death at all no matter what everyone else thinks. I just can't break down crying in front of the person who killed her. I owe that to her. She would not want that to happen. I walk down the streets of our district not paying any attention to where I am going. I know that I will get where I need to be, everyone here is going to the same place and I just need to follow the crowd. When we get to the town square there is already a large crowd gathered. I work my way through it and over to the peacekeepers who will lead me up onto the stage.

They take me up onto the side of the stage and then they descend the steps and stand at the bottom. The other family is on the other side. When the boy who won comes onto the stage I am terrified. It's not like he can kill anyone here, but still seeing the person who killed her for real instead of on a screen is even worse.

He makes a speech about the games that I don't listen to. Then I give him the award. I walk back to my spot and stand there until the crowd starts to leave. I walk down the steps and join the crowd and find my way home. At home I can cry easily and I do until I fall asleep from all the crying.

**I know it was short, but I just wanted to do a chapter about a while after Keniah's death. **


End file.
